10 incredible tricks to let your video go viral

Ten incredible tricks to let your video go viral

A viral video is a video that has become popular and is shared by others throughout several online channels such as blogs and social media. The two biggest advantages of a viral video are that it increases the awareness of your brand and it has low advertising costs. The only real challenge for you is to make your video go viral. You can’t create viral. Viral is the result of something awesome. However there are ways to increase the chances to make it go viral!

1. Make it short and to the point

People have a short attention span. Make sure your videos don’t last longer than 2 minutes. Several researches show that 20% of the viewers stop watching after 10 seconds, and 44% of the viewers stop watching after 1 minute. So your videos have to be short and to the point. Don’t save your best parts for the end of the video. The shorter the video, the more likely people will share it.

2. Tell an inspiring story

Create interesting videos that will inspire other people. People like stories that touch them. For example: ‘’A homeless guy who became a millionaire within a year’’. Out of curiosity you want to know what happened and how he managed achieving that. The more inspiring the story, the more likely someone will share your video.

3. Teach something to your viewers

If your video is interesting, it will be shared. People want to learn something that they didn’t know. Surprise your viewer. Videos where people’s daily problems are treated, are doing very well. How-to videos are very popular for that reason.

4. The power of emotions

People share videos when a lot of strong emotions are involved. Without emotion, there is no viral video. Some emotions spread better than others. In the past, negative stories, had more effect on the viewer. In modern times the stories with positive emotions have more engagement. Stories with positive emotions are more likely to be shared than stories with negative emotions. If someone laughs about a video, that person is more likely to share that video with a friend to make him or her laugh as well. A few emotions that do well are anger, excitement and amusement, while emotions like sadness are not doing well. People share emotions, not commercials.

5. Write a viral headline

Make it findable. Make sure that words are easily found by Google and YouTube. Try to provoke curiosity with your title. Don’t be too vague or your audience won’t click the video or link. Give them an idea what to expect from your video, but make it tempting. Emotional headlines get shared more on social media. Emotional words speak to our senses, persuading people to click the video.

6. Creative ways to receive new engagement

The online landscape is changing rapidly. Try to find new trends and use them effectively. For example ‘’the ALS ice bucket challenge’’. A viral campaign with a simple goal which was also fun to do. A lot of companies used the ALS campaign for their own publicity. For example: for every share or like, we donate 20 cent to the ALS foundation.

Perhaps even easier is using new trendy technologies, such as the popular Vine or Instagram. Vine has more engagement than Facebook. Vines are short videos which lasts 8 seconds max, that you share on Twitter or Facebook. This seems short, but it is long enough to tell your message or to promote your product. Make a storyboard before you start making a vine.

7. Who wants to be part of your video?

Before you start making your movie, it’s good to know who wants to be part of your video. They can help you promote your video. This means that your whole description can be full with hashtags, links and possible sponsors. Some companies might be interested to help you while others will not be. Try them all, even the companies you didn’t have contact with. For example the electronics you used to film your video, brands that are used like clothing or the location of setting in your video. Try to approach these companies who might be interested.

8. Don’t try to sell too much

A lot of companies think that when they have an online video, the company will go viral. They don’t know the difference between a promotional video and a viral video. A video consisting out of text and some logos will not go viral. Your video must have the personality, brand image and USP’s of your company. Don't focus too much on selling. The best advert is an advert where you forget that it’s an advert. Your company can tell in a fun and humoristic way about themselves or about their products. Or what about making jokes about their market where they find themselves in, and how they approach that.

9. Have a good marketing plan

It’s more difficult to spread a well produced, thought-out video, than it is to spread a video that is made for entertainment. A lot of companies consider a video that goes viral as luck. Some videos become a success while others do not. While your video should be great, so should the rest of your marketing plan be. The key to let a video go viral is sharing. Your video must be shared, but there will be a point where the sharing stops. Know how, when and where to upload. It’s no use to spend a lot of money on a video if the rest of your marketing isn’t good.

Let’s say your video is a success. Your visitor numbers are increasing rapidly, but the website you use has not been optimized to lead to registration or sales. There is a big chance you will lose those potential clients. Having a good landing page with optimized design, built with the focus on sales and conversion is a must.

10. There is no guarantee

You can’t create viral. Viral is the result of something awesome. You can’t control that, your audience does. There is no concrete answer to let something go viral. Never discourage yourself when something doesn’t work. Figure out why something didn’t work and try to find another way. If you find out that your reach is the highest at 21.00 while several researches tell you that it's better to upload your movie at 15.00, which gives you a less reach. What will you do? Exactly, you will do what works best for you. What gives you the best result. Don’t forget, for every viral video, there are hundreds that fail.

After reading these tips your viral video should have a good shot of succeeding!
Have you seen your video go viral? Please share your story at the comment section below.

This article is written by Remy van Wolde

Remy is a parttime blogger and is responsible for the launch of Viedits blog. He has a passion for video and interest in contentmarketing.